If you’re like me, and have an incurable sweet tooth, you probably find yourself craving something sweet practically 24/7. You probably also spend too much time wandering aimlessly in the conbini, lingering amongst the sweet breads and wondering if they are worth your last ¥100 coin. Whether you act upon your cravings or not, chances are high that you have a good eye for what looks good and often feast your eyes on the masterpieces that grace the pages of recipe books and Instagram. If you need another source of sweet magic to sprinkle dreams of brownie cupcakes and and coffee cake into your life, look no further than the pastry blog, Crumbs and Cookies II.
Apple vanilla bean cheesecake, Image courtesy of Crumbs and Cookies II
Run by Waseda University’s very own, Amanda Koh (previously featured as a Campus Cutie), Crumbs and Cookies II, also known as C&C, is every dessert-lover’s dream. With aesthetic photos of her creations that look good enough to make your mouth water, C&C walks you through a culinary journey; from the inspiration, to the process, to the final product.
To learn more about C&C and the talented mastermind behind it, Her Campus Waseda asked Amanda herself about how this delicious blog came to be.
HC: You say that you’re not loyal any particular flavor profile or pastry, are there any flavors or styles that you find yourself using the most? Are there any that you are interested in trying?
A: When I first started baking I was obsessed with American style desserts because they look and taste so decadent but all that sugar gets overwhelming after a while so I gradually leaned towards French and Japanese style desserts. These days I find myself using a balance of American and Japanese elements in my baking, but in general I think I’ve always liked to bake desserts with visual impact and a comfortable complexity in flavours, by which I mean nothing too straightforward that you can imagine what the dessert will taste like even before you eat it, but nothing too bizarre that you wouldn’t go for a second bite. Ultimately though, contemporary French pastries are my favourite but they tend to be of a higher technical difficulty so if there’s one genre of baking I would like to dedicate more practice to, that would be it.
HC: What first inspired you to start baking and eventually blog about your creations?
A: I was just immensely bored one day so I decided to try my hand at some chocolate chip cookies from scratch and my family really liked them. That was about 10 years ago. As for blogging, I believe that was because I would frequently come across baking blogs while searching for recipes online and I thought it would be a fun project to take on since I’ve always loved writing as well.
HC: What advice do you have for any readers who may be curious about baking or blogging but are reluctant to take the leap?
A: Well, baking is something that definitely takes practice so don’t be discouraged if you don’t get it right the first time! Build up your confidence by starting with something simple like cookies before moving on to the more advanced stuff. I would say that maintaining a blog is actually pretty labour intensive especially if you want to generate a substantial amount of traffic but it’s not without its own rewards – you have a lot of artistic control over the layout of your work that other established platforms such as Instagram don’t necessarily give you. At the end of the day a blog feels uniquely yours, and if you think you’d enjoy possessing that sort of autonomy I think you should give blogging a chance.
There you have it! A big thank you to Amanda for taking the time to answer our questions and for creating such an amazing blog! You can also follow her on Instagram @carramellatte to see more decadent desserts.
Thanks for reading! :)